After It All
by whydoyoucookie
Summary: This Story carries on straight from where it left off in the manga, and I've rewritten the last couple of pages so it doesn't seem confusing. In short, the Host Club goes to Boston for a study year!  TamaXHaru HikaXOC and possibly some others, Enjoy!
1. Haruhi: The Welcoming Commitee

**Chapter One – Haruhi's POV – Haruhi: The Welcoming committee**

"Talking"

"**Shouting or emphasizing"**

**Thinking **

(Writer's notes)

**(Additional Noises)**

"English" (Japanese is normal)

**Okay, this is my fanfiction for Ouran High School Host Club, hope you enjoy and I don't own the characters, or the first half of the plot :) R+R! :)**

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I had finally finished heaving the not-so-light dresser in front of the "love door", and stood in front of it triumphantly, smiling. **There**, I thought to myself proudly, **that ought to do the trick. **As I was bending down to reach the vase of flowers to my side, Tamaki bounded into the apartment via the main door dramatically, practically making the oak door's hinges cry out in pain as they were swung to their full extent. With the sudden shock, I lost my balance and ended up with my rear on the floor. It didn't really help that much with the stupid oh-so-shiny wooden flooring either, thank you very much. I'd have to do something about it, it was driving me insane. Four times in three days was not something I was going to let myself get used to.

"Hold on, Haruhi!", he cried, running towards me, with the ever faithful Antoinette at his heels.

Sometimes I wandered why the dog even put up with the idiot, and then I remembered, I was the idiot's girlfriend. **Oh, mother in heaven, whatever I did, I'm sorry! **

"Why are you putting furniture in front of that door! What about the Love Door and our sweet life together?", he continued, his face looking as though the apartment's floor had just crumbled away beneath us into a dark endless pit.

Antoinette strolled up to me, completely unfathomed by her master's reaction, and looked up at me with a cute goofy grin on her face. I guess it was the norm for her by now. "Like I said, I came to study. If you come and go whenever you want from that door, it will be troublesome for me.", I stated simply, giving a quick ruffle of Antoinette's head, then rising from my ungracious position on the floor. "And anyway," I added, "We've already wasted three days by putting this room in order, so lets finish this by today, okay? Also, we will only visit each other using the main door, understood?"

Tamaki was silent throughout, bearing an even horrified face with every passing second. Although I would never admit it, secretly it was actually kind of funny to see him like that, in one of the twisted, evil parts of the back of my mind. I carried on, "When you talk to me, use English as muchas you can! And, only because it can't be helped I'll cook for both of us."

At this statement Tamaki's eyes lit up slightly, but quickly they were extinguished when I finally ended by saying, "But any other unnecessary intimacy is forbidden!"

In an instant, he was in his corner of woe, sitting on the floor with his knees hunched up, his head down. This time it even seemed as though there was a spotlight on him from above. "And would you please stop inventing new ways to look depressed?", I said exasperatedly. It was starting to get annoying.

Ever so slowly, he turned his head slightly towards me and mumbled incoherently, "IfyoukissmeIwilldoasyousay."

I didn't really catch on, so replied with an "eh?"

In another flash, he was beside with his hands gripped at the sides of my arms, his head inconceivably close to my own. How did the guy **do** that? I guessed with Tamaki, if there was a will, there was always a way, no matter what.

"I'm saying that I will do as you say so long as I get a good morning kiss and good night kiss from you every day! And it's fine doing it now as well!", he said enthusiastically, his lips puckered next to my cheek comically, waiting.

"What are you saying?", I managed to gasp out after the sudden turn of events, not quite getting how that last part fitted right. "It's still daytime."

Tamaki released his grip on my arms and brought his hands to his cheeks immaturely. "Ah? You mean it's fine if it's not day time? Oh my, Haruhi...we are naughty, aren't we?", he teased. "What would Ranka say if he heard you..."

He was interrupted by my sudden uncontrollable out burst, "No, no! I didn't mean it like that! I didn't!", I spluttered on, my words tripping over themselves.

**(Sound of the doorbell ringing)**

We both suddenly froze and looked towards the oak door. Thankfully, when Tamaki had made his dramatic entrance, the door had rebounded and shut itself behind him, letting our peaceful discussion be left to only our eyes. "Good afternoon! We just moved in next door!", a strangely familiar voice said through the door in English.

I flew across to the door, and started to open it whilst saying, "Hi! Sorry for not introducing myself...", before stopping mid-sentence and door-swing.

There, in front of me, on my doorstep in Boston, America, was the Host Club.

"Hello!", they all said to me brightly, with enthusiastic waving.

For a moment, I couldn't move. When I could though, I quickly slammed the door shut. Tilting my head round to the side with my hands still pressing against the door, I found Tamaki sending me a questioning look. The expression was quickly morphed into that of shock and horror as Honey-sempai let himself in, with the other Host Club members in follow.

Oh, cr*p, what on earth were they doing here? I was still in shock, harbouring the same expression of that of Tamaki's, whilst they started strolling around the room. They spoke, but I don't think Tamaki and I really took anything in. All what went through my mind was,** Let me wake up from this nightmare, I beg of you! **

"Heh? Every room has got the same layout.", Hikaru said unpleasantly, scanning the room with the side of his hand pressed against his eyebrows like a pirate searching for a treasured island far off in the distance.

"This view from the third floor is very good as well!", Honey-sempai complimented, unfathomed by Hikaru's comment before him, and had Usa-Chan perched on his shoulders. I wondered absent-mindedly if this counted as one of the days he was allowed to have his beloved stuffed bunny.

"Yeah,", was all Mori-sempai said in a monotone voice.

"You two's room is on the fourth floor, right?", Kaoru said to Honey-sempai, who nodded, smiling, in reply. "Ours has got a huge tree right in front of the window...", he grumbled.

"OK, OK, no complaining about something decided by drawing lots.", Kyouya said in bored voice.

They talked on, unfathomed by Mine and Tamaki's shocked expression. I think they were quite enjoying it, actually. Finally Tamaki managed to interrupt them by spluttering, "G...Guys!"

They looked at us, grinning like Cheshire cats finding a stash of Cat-nip. "Ahaha, Did we surprise you?", the twins said in unison to us. "You know, it was very hard to make all the preparation before the goodbye party..."

"We thought that, well, we would have to study abroad too one day.", Honey-sempai beamed cutely. It was hard to stay mad at that face, so I tried not to make eye contact and looked at the wall behind him. It wasn't too hard as he was only small, so I just had to look directly straight.

"And there were also some unoccupied rooms here.", Kyouya said, always the logical thinker. Yeah right, I bet he just bribed some of the residents to move their assess somewhere else. I could actually imagine the shadow king doing something like that.

To think before I even felt a little nostalgic towards them. I take it back.

"Yes, by the way Haruhi", Kyouya said, smiling more earnestly. "You took a bold decision to study abroad to pursue your great dream. You can't say that something like this is going to interfere with your studies, right...?"

Realization hit me full in the face. "Aah...No...", was all I could blubber. **This wasn't fair! Why was this happening to me! **

But then, I realized something. A feeling that had morphed into my subconsciousness ever since I met them. They had no intention of becoming "Memories", even for a short while. I guess, I shout and scream no, but deep down, (way, **way**, deep down) I was secretly thrilled. And I think Tamaki was too. Even if he was jumping around the walls screaming at them, same as I.

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Ten minutes later, I found myself making instant coffee for everyone else seated in the other room. Somehow the Hatatchin twins had coaxed me into doing it, along with Honey-sempai supplying a large mound of cake as always. Just as I was reaching into the cupboard for the mugs though, Tamaki hip-bumped me out of the way, and did the act for me, slamming the mugs down on to the counter. He was still fuming, and I could almost see the steam escaping from his flushed ears. I, surprisingly, differed from him, and had accepted the rest of the host clubs presence shortly after my initial burst of anger. I had had to deal with them before and still receive top marks on my grades back in Ouran, so I didn't mind too much. There would have to be some rules put in place though for me to maintain what was left of my sanity (they had already stolen most of it).

I couldn't place why Tamaki was still acting like this though. I thought he would be happy that we were reunited again, the whole host club family. "Tamaki, you don't have to do that."

"No, I don't mind, really. I just...I couldn't stand being in the other room with them, you know?", he said quietly, switching on the kettle with one hand and scratching the side of his head with the other.

Whilst he had done that, I had gotten out the milk and poured a glass for Honey, who's face wrinkled in disgust at the very thought of coffee. "Tamaki...", I replied, my words drifting off. I didn't really know what to say. I decided on placing my hand to his arm instead, trying to be comforting in some way.

"Are you okay with them being here?", he questioned suddenly, stopping mid way through his coffee making duties. He looked down into my brown eyes, searching for my answer.

"I...guess so. I've had to deal with them before, so I don't mind too much.", I replied truthfully.

"But, how are you going to study with them around! They'll always be here, looking over your shoulder at whatever your doing or dragging you off somewhere or getting you into a huge debt-", I pressed a finger to his lips, silencing him.

"I'm, glad that you're concerned for me, I really am, but, don't worry about it okay? Just think, were all together again, the whole family.", I said softly. I decided not to enlighten him that most of the time, Tamaki played a huge part in those things too, and just let him carry on thinking the twins were the big bad wolves for now.

In response, he kissed the finger I had still pressed to his lips tenderly, and brought his hand to rest on my own, keeping it there. This simple gesture sent a small shiver down my spine, and I found myself slowly edging closer towards him. With his hand, Tamaki moved my own to rest on his warm cheek, making room to press my lips against his.

As soon as our lips touched, I could feel my heart fluttering like a humming bird in side my chest, as if trying to weave its way out somehow. His lips were so soft, and with them carried a thousand unspoken 'I love you' s. He wrapped his free hand around my waist loosely, and my own arm worked on its own accord and wrapped itself around his neck. Time seemed to pass by us, but I didn't notice it, not in the slightest.

We were interrupted suddenly by the loud sound of one of the doors being opened (it was quite an old apartment, so all the doors made funny noises) and someone saying "Heloooo, um, guys? We'd kinda like these coffees today, if you don't mind..."

Tamaki and I parted lips, both flushed and unable to meet Kaoru's eye. For some reason I felt a surge of anger at him for interrupting us, but tried to push it out of my mind. Tamaki just glared at the twin.

It wasn't nearly as embarrassing as when Hikaru decided to come see what the fuss was all about, and saw both mine and Tamaki's flushed faces. Putting two and two together, he stifled a laugh, biting down hard on his lip, but still unable to help himself to grin madly. "Well, fellow brother, let us leave them to finish making the coffee, or err, finish whatever they were ...finishing...", he trailed off, leaving unspoken words as he and Kaoru left, their bodies shaking with silent laughter. As soon as the door shut, we could hear the twins suddenly burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, and could probably picture them rolling on the floor insanely.

"Well, that was...intriguing.", Tamaki said finally after an unbearable amount of awkward silence between them both.

"Oh, just shut up and make the da** coffee!", I snapped, still humiliated.

"Yes boss", He replied sarcastically, reaching for the sugar, but then pausing when he saw that the salt shaker had 'accidentally' found itself on the counter beside me. He matched my own mischievous grin and said in a bad-acting-way (Okay, so I couldn't think of a better word, bite me! :) "Oh, I wonder where the sugar's gone? Oh, there it is!", he reached for the salt and started shake it in to the coffees, save for two. "Hmm, maybe we should give some more of the sugar to the twins for a little extra sweetness. Don't you agree, Haruhi?", he asked, to which I mmm-hhmed in response.

We, being the inexperienced pranksters that we were, did this with six identical cups and only realized this fact when we had to wash out our mouths ten times over.

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**Okay, so what did everyone think? I'd like to have some peoples opinion for this fanfic, so please review! :)**


	2. Hikaru: Exotic Commoner Food

**Me: Hi, this the second chapter to my OHSHC Fan Fiction and it's in the POV of Hikaru. I don't own these characters except for Pandora and don't make any profit out of this story. **

**Although...if I did own them...mwahahaha! :)**

**Tamaki : Save us! Please!**

**Me: *Tightens rope and wacks him on the head with a frying pan* Shut it, Blondie, you're mine now! *Evil grin***

**Honey-sempai: Umm , Enjoy?**

**Mori-sempai: … T_T**

As Haruhi didn't have the will to cook for me and five other ravenous guys, and apart from herself, not one us barely knew how to make a sandwich (What was with cutting the block of cheese into slices?), we decided to dine out and discover more American cuisine. We ventured out to a restaurant around the corner from our apartment block, which seemed fairly popular with the rest of the neighbourhood.

I didn't really know what to expect from Boston, since it was so different from Ouran. As we walked to our destination, Kaoru and I stared in wonder at the endless path of chewing gum engraved onto the pavement we walked upon, and I ended up walking into a lamp post twice from not concentrating on where I was going. Kaoru just laughed, as always, and dragged me from my stunned spot behind the lamp post and carried on walking.

Kyouya walked beside us looking bored, with his mobile pressed to his ear and was talking about something medical, for which made my head hurt when I tried to listen in from the mass use of scientific vocabulary. Honey-sempai was in front of him on Mori's back, sulking because they didn't let Usa-Chan accompany them and refused to talk to anyone. I wasn't too worried – I was sure he would instantly perk up once he saw all the cake at the restaurant.

Tono and Haruhi were in front of the rest of the group, leading the way since they had been there once before. Their hands were entwined as they talked about couple-y stuff, and I tried not to listen in. However much I tried not to, I couldn't help but still feel a pang of jealousy towards Tamaki. I was happy for them both, I really was, but that still didn't change my feelings for Haruhi. They were gradually fading, ever so slowly, but they were still there all the same. A dim glow in the back of mind, for which I wasn't sure would ever truly extinguish.

I just felt so, so lonely right now, even with Kaoru by my side. I tried to put it out of my mind, but I guess my body language thought otherwise when Kaoru said quietly to me, "Hikaru, it's all right you know, to still feel like this. Anyone would."

I started to discreetly walk slower, until Kaoru and I were a reasonable distance behind the others. Thankfully, they didn't realise, all immersed in their own sh*tty little perfect lives. "I know, it's just, oh, I don't know, why...", I made no sense, but I think Kaoru understood me all the same.

"I know brother, please, just, don't let it get you down okay? You put up such a good front in front of everyone, but I know your breaking inside. It pains me to see you like this.", he said sympathetically, taking my hand in his. Not romantically or anything, just comforting.

We rounded the last turn the others had just made and saw the Restaurant in our view. There were glass tables scattered outside, and the whole place was buzzing. Kyouya would have naturally booked us a table anyhow, so didn't give it a second thought. I squeezed his hand lightly, "Your right. I'm, moving on.", I said, then added to lighten the atmosphere, "Hey, I bet there's some chicks who like a twin thing, 'ay, Kar?", grinning mischievously and giving him a nudge.

He flashed me one equally as devilish back, and sniggering like the psychopaths we were, we made our way into the American/Italian pizza house.

For a commoner's Restaurant, I had to admit the food was exemplary. Honey had somehow coaxed everyone to have dessert first (Involving pictures of Haruhi back in Middle-School), and everything was going well, until something strange happened, something that knocked me off my feet completely unawares. One by one the Host Club ordered, and Kaoru and I were left to say ours. Like always, we spoke at the same time, but, instead of saying the same thing in unison like always, we ordered two different things.

This was the first time something this had ever happened, and Kaoru and I looked at one another with horrified expressions on our faces. It was a scary thought, to think that we were drifting ever further apart from each other, and I think Kaoru had thought this too. Actually, after what had just happened, I wasn't even sure what he was thinking any more.

"Kaoru...", I murmured, holding up my hand at the same time that he did and saying, "Hikaru..."

Realizing we were once again in unison, we laughed it off. I think it was more of a front though than anything though, to cover up in front of the others. Possibly, though we would never admit it, something to delude ourselves that we weren't separating, that everything was going to be okay.

When the desserts came (Honey-sempai had apparently changed his order when we weren't looking to the whole chocolate fudge cake instead of just a slice), Kaoru and I shared ours between us to try the different flavours. What scared me the most though, the thing that really got to me, was that I barely liked what he had chosen, and I think he felt the same for mine too. We ate them both anyway, so the rest wouldn't notice.

I caught Haruhi occasionally looking my way, a worried expression hidden in a false smile. The eyes gave it away, those big, beautiful brown eyes she beheld so intricately; they were too pure to be dishonest by her true inclines. In some ways, by the single way she would look at me, I believed that she knew everything there was about me, every thought I had ever held. Although, I didn't really think she knew just how much I really loved her, that I'd let her love for Tamaki rise over my own feelings, so she could be happy. I think that was the best gift I would be able to give her, happiness. She wouldn't ever be truly happy with me, I knew that, so I think this was the best way to go.

Halfway through the main (Kaoru and I had made sure we had the same this time – Carbonara Pasta) I noticed a couple of girls seated near us kept glancing our way, then pretending to look at the menu for cover even though they were already eating. I nudged Kaoru, then flicked my eyes in the girl's direction, motioning for him to look. He quickly cottoned on, and looked back to me, flashing that devilish smile, mirroring my own.

My twin spiked a piece of the pasta with his fork, and expertly raised it to my lips, leaning in towards me whilst doing so. I complied, opening my mouth and slowly taking the pasta from him. A speck of the sauce was left at the side of my mouth, and Kaoru licked his thumb, brushing over it. You could hear the girl's intakes of breath and muffled squeals from a mile off.

"Hikaru, Kaoru...", Kyouya tutted disapprovingly from the other side of the table.

He didn't usually care about such things, I guess the shadow king himself had a heart after all.

"If you're going to do it, at least do it whilst club activities are on. Such a waste...", he added darkly.

Just forget I said anything. Please.

By the time the silver plait clock on the wall had struck the nine, we were all leaned back on our chairs, with tight belts and satisfied smiles on our faces. Kyouya had just called for the bill, when the most beautiful woman I had ever seen came over to our table. It was a different kind of beauty to Haruhi, who in her own way was also graceful and charming. No, this girl, she was...wow.

Her long blonde hair fell down her back in slight waves, and her bright blue eyes captivated me; both were shimmering than any star I had ever laid eyes on. As she walked over to us, you could here a slight clipping noise from the red heels she wore with tight black trousers, and a spotless white blouse. The material clung to her curves, and her hips swayed as she drew nearer. I only realised she was one of the staff here when she spoke up, but even then I wasn't really taking in what she was actually saying. Her voice was like soft bells chiming in a small village; pure, sweet, and absolutely breath-taking.

The Goddess (How could she even be possibly Human?) was talking to Kyouya, exchanging receipts and bank cards. I was unconsciously becoming more jealous as the seconds ticked by, until when she stood back up to a proper stance (Roughly just a little shorter than my own tall stature), and looked me straight in the eye. Everything around me blurred out as our eyes made contact, a mixture of passion, desire, and maybe even a bit of downright lust wedged in the package as well.

She smiled at me, only briefly, but it made my heart race even faster than before. And then, she just left, disappearing behind the staff-only kitchen doors, the whole moment vanishing into nothingness. I could feel my aching heart sink back down a thousand feet or so, right back down to reality.

I looked around the table at my fellow companions, all of who were oblivious to the past recent events. I didn't get it – the most beautiful, glorious, magical **GODDESS** had just appeared before us, and not one of them seemed even remotely interested. I shook my head, dumbfounded. Even Kaoru, my own brother, was just pushing his chair in neatly, ready to leave. The rest soon followed in pursuit, pushing their chairs in and starting to make their way to the doors.

Grumbling inwardly, I joined the others, and we stepped out into the cool breeze of the late summer evening. The sun was just now setting, and the sky wore a whole range of beautiful colours. I couldn't help but be reminded of the Goddess I had just met.

Kaoru, now ever faithfully by my side once again, kept flashing me curious looks towards my starry-eyed, zoned-out expression, but otherwise didn't comment.

The apartment block we were living in was a fairly modern assemble to the otherwise older, dull street. Its walls were still white for one thing, making it stand out from the other grey city buildings, the wall's stained by the city's pollution. The glass shined and reflected your face slightly as you walked by, which proved to be quite appealing to your average group of girls on a night out. As you walked in through the automatic glass doors, you would be met by a security guard in a black uniform, who would dip his head ever so inwardly as a sign of greetings, and a secretary behind a glass desk reading the latest vogue magazine in their spare time. The lobby wasn't overly large or as grand as some I had seen back in Japan, but it had a nice feel to it all the same. I was still getting used to it – after all, this was my first day here – but I knew, somehow, I was really going to enjoy it here. Just the simplest of things I liked, the way how when you walked through the lobby with its not-quite marble flooring, your shoes would constantly squeak and make a funny noise. The first time Kaoru and I had entered the said building, we had spent the first ten minutes seeing who could make the loudest squeak, much to the others dislike, as they covered their ears with mock-death faces. It was funny.

As we walked in now, Kaoru and I grudgingly didn't carry on from where we left off, seeing the others glare at us morbidly. Their faces almost made me want to take a step back, just to be on the safe side.

I don't know how, or why, but I think fate was on my side that night, nudging me along. I didn't purposely do it, how was I supposed to know anyway? What I did know though, was that somehow, fate had made my shoe laces go undone. It sounds stupid, but I believe that with all my heart. Maybe it was just chance, a coincidence. But I don't think so. Not one bit.

As I noticed my shoe laces had worked their way undone once again, I bent down to tie them as the rest made their way up the stairs to the upper floors, and told them I'd catch them up. No way was I going to get a black eye by letting Kaoru trip me up on the stairs (again).

It was about that time that she walked into the lobby.

I had just finished with my shoes, and was wiping non-existent dust off my knees (why did people do that?) when I saw her for the second time that night, the Goddess. She saw me too from across the lobby, and I was about to say something when her bag suddenly split open, spilling her belongings across the slippery floor. My first thought was, /**Why do women feel the need to carry around so much useless sh*t everywhere?/**, my second, more rational was (or from a man's point of view), /**Oh, right, yeah, this would probably be a good time to help her, instead of standing like an idiot gawking at her gorgeous t*ts...no, I did not just think that! Bad Hikaru! ...Oh, yeah, helping, got it! /**

The Goddess was already on her hands and knees scrambling for her scattered possessions, blushing madly behind her make-up. I jogged over and collected some of the items that had decided to train for the marathon instead of the sack race – it still amazed me how on earth the inanimate objects had travelled so far on their own accord.

We were too busy collecting the stuff from other ends of the lobby to interact, but I saw she gave me a quick grateful smile once she realised I was helping. When I finished gathering all of it from my half, I walked over to join her. She stood up, also finished by the time I came over, and I passed the belongings over. Our fingers touched whilst doing so, and immediately my heart started to pound so hard I thought it would come flying out of my chest.

"So, is this a hobby of yours, Stalking random women?", the Goddess joked to me with a teasing smile.

She spoke to me. Me, Hikaru Hatatchin! I know, I'm over-reacting, but you'd understand if you were even in the very presence of this phenomenal being. I couldn't really think of anything to say, so without thinking it over properly like the retard I was, I ended up spluttering, "No! Err...No, I..."

"I'm kidding!", she said, lightly mock-punching my arm. "I'm Pandora.", she said warmly, the bells of her voice chiming their most sweetest.

"H, Hikaru", I managed to stutter out. God, she must've thought I was such an idiot! I could barely even form two words around her – correction, **ONE** word around her. There was something about, something that just knocked me off my feet.

Literally. We were walking towards the stairs, and I mustn't of tied my shoes properly, because all of a sudden I was down on the ground in a rather ungracious manner. Pandora looked down at me, and started to walk up the stairs, laughing. "See you around, Hikaru", giving me one of those prize winning smiles.

And you know what? I really, truly hoped so.

**Hope everyone enjoyed, please review! And if anyone happened to have any stray ideas lying around...well, I guess it wouldn't be so bad if we put them to good use right? :) Review!**


	3. Kaoru: Attention Seeking Tummies

**Chapter Three – Kaoru's POV – Kaoru: Attention-Seeking Tummies**

**Me again! Okay, I apologize for the long wait, hopefully it'll be worth it? Since I didn't want to leave it too long, I've ended this chapter here. Technically I'm only really half way through this chapter, but since it was starting to get a little long I've just cut it here :) that means the next chapter will be still in Kaoru's view, and will most likely not be as long since it's kind of a add-on to this one :) **

**I don't own these characters, except for Pandora, but it's my own plot :)**

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**I** woke to the blinding morning sun shining through the window of mine and Hikaru's bedroom, partially covered by the huge tree that decided to be annoying and live directly in front of the view. My eyes fluttered as they grew prone to the new bright light, and a scorching pain shot up my back bone when I stretched slightly. My hands fumbled near my head, grasping for my soft white pillow to squeeze (something I had found myself to do ever since I was young) but substituting it I found...a hard, cold wooden floor. I sat up quickly in surprise, then clutched my head from the head rush. Looking around the room – now fully awake from the shock – it came to my utmost frustration that I had previously been sprawled ungraciously on the dark wooden floor beside my perfectly decent bed, with my cream covers hanging off idly from the side of it.

It might have explained my back ache, but that didn't mean the circumstance wasn't any less infuriating. I couldn't even blame it on Hikaru this time, since he had his own bed across from mine, his body nestled oh-so-perfectly underneath the covers. Although...he sure did have a rather smug expression plastered upon his face, you could never be too sure.

Needless to say though, it was probably my own god d*mn fault, though I would never admit it aloud. He'd worn the same goofy, smug look ever since we'd left the restaurant the previous night, and even more so upon arriving back at our apartment shortly after myself. I hadn't said anything though, I didn't think he wanted me to. I was curious to know what had gotten him so, so happy I guess, but something in the back of my mind told me to just keep my mouth shut for the time being. When he wanted to enlighten me, I would be all ears and supporting if needed to be, but I'd just have to be patient for now. After all, he couldn't always tell me everything, I was just going to have to live with that fact. Ever so, I was intrigued and dying to know the details as much as a teenage girl on the latest gossip. Something had happened to him, something that I just couldn't put my finger on.

I checked my clock on the bedside table, and it displayed 6:00am in those digital red letters. I thought about trying to go back and catching a bit more shut-eye, but then thought otherwise and decided to take advantage of this time I had to myself. I loved Hikaru, but sometimes it did get a bit irritating when we were together so much. That, and the fact that I needed to start getting used to the idea of being my own individual, independent person. And quick, before Hikaru went off in to that big wide world without me, leaving me alone and unprepared.

An assortment of different boxes of shapes and sizes adorned the wall opposite the two beds, along with two large, black suitcases. Stretching, I went over to one of cases, of which identified it was my own from the red ribbon tied onto the handle. The Host Club hadn't really wasted too much time in announcing our surprise arrival to Tono and Haruhi, so not too much progress had been made concerning our move in to the apartments. Whilst we had said our hello's, an array of Kyouya's workers had delivered our luggage to the respected rooms; mine and Hikaru's on the first floor, with Honey and Mori's on the third, along with Kyouya's own single. It became apparent Kyouya had happily enough given his workers the pleasure to just dump all of my and my twin's possessions in one of the two bedrooms to one side, unlike his own, already perfectly moved in and decorated fully. Devious plots and schemes were already filling my mind on how exactly my and my black-haired twin would go about repaying his ever thoughtful favour.

It had been late by the time we had returned to the apartment (It felt strange to call it "Home" as yet) so we had just set out the necessities, and with already two singular beds in place in the same bedroom, we had just crashed here. **Of course**, I thought to myself, as if on cue Hikaru let out a particularly loud snore whilst turning over, **that will soon change. As soon as Hikaru's up, I'm getting my bed into the other Bedroom ****by one means or another, you can count on that. **I smirked to myself **And Anyway, I'm sure that room's got the bigger window.**

I unzipped the suitcase, revealing an array of my more desired outfits, along with a towel hastily thrown in with my toiletry bag. Grabbing the bag, towel, and the a couple items of chosen clothing, I made my way in to the bathroom to have a much needed, steaming shower.

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Around ten minutes later I stalked out said room, grumbling under my breath and an expression of annoyance and irritation adorning my face. It seemed Hikaru was up now, sitting back in his grey boxers on the one item of furniture in the living room; a tattered brown sofa, most likely left by the previous owners. He drank a chocolate milkshake, of which I was certain was the very same one I had stashed in my suit case before departing Japan the previous morning. It was safe to say, it didn't exactly brighten my negative mood.

"Whoa, you look like sh*t man. Got up on the wrong side of bed or something?", Hikaru asked bluntly.

"As a matter of fact, yes. Well, on the floor to be precise. But that's not the point.", I growled through my clenched teeth, letting myself fall to the remaining side of the sofa and crossing my arms. Doing so it caused Hikaru's (Or should I say **my**) milkshake to splash a small amount on to Hikaru's boxer's, leaving a visible and downright hilarious, unflattering wet patch. My annoyance gone in a flash, I doubled over, laughing so hard tears glinted in the corner of my eyes. "S,Serves you r,right for ni,ni,nicking my milksh,sh,shake then you greedy, g*t!", I said in amusement between my uncontrollable fit of laughter.

Hikaru, just glared at me icily, a low growl seeming to come from the back of his throat. He quickly got up, and stomped his way to the bathroom for his own shower, not missing the chance to flick his middle finger in my direction as he slammed the door shut.

I counted down in my head; **and four, three, two, one...** Right on cue, a loud, ear-piercing shriek came from the bathroom, and the door swung open, Hikaru appearing in the doorway, sending daggers flying my way from his eyes. He hadn't bothered to cover himself, so just stood naked, droplets of water clinging to his skin. I smirked. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I forget to mention the shower's only coming out cold?", I said innocently, my eyes filled to the brim with mischief and amusement.

"Yes, apparently you did", he managed to spit his out through his clenched teeth.

**Ha! Take that for stealing my milkshake, Tw*t!**, I decided to not voice my thoughts, knowing that my twin would've most likely have pounced on me and tried to wring my neck. It wasn't that I couldn't fight him off; I just didn't exactly want his c*ck in my face whilst doing so.

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Hikaru refused to acknowledge my existence for the rest of the morning, for which I wasn't exactly **too** crushed about. **Thinking about it now**, I thought to myself in amusement, **I might even do this more often! **

My time was spent shifting all my necessities and downright crap to the other bedroom, and thinking to myself how great a nice steamy shower would be right about then. Usually, I probably would have just barged into Kyouya's or one of the other Host Club member's room, and demanded to use their shower, but some back part of my mind dismissed the idea at the present time. I wasn't sure where that thought had really come from, but I somehow found my self listening to it.

On matters of sleeping arrangements, I decided that I'd just buy a new bed, preferably more comfortable and considerably bigger, having referenced to where I woke up earlier that morning. We were going to take a walk later and see if we could find any decent furniture stores around the neighbourhood. **Speaking of which, it'd probably good to get some more furniture in general, since we only brought the odd piece with us. **My stomach rumbled, as if trying to catch my attention. **Yes, Tummy, getting ****some food and the shit you cook it in will be on our agenda as well, don't worry! Eating out or getting Haruhi to cook for us isn't exactly the best choice for living, I guess. **My following thought was, **Sh*t, I'm talking to my fucking **Stomach**, I need to get out more.**

At that point Hikaru came into my room, interrupting my conversation with myself for which I partially grateful. Part of my mind was freaking out about everything, whilst another was doing a happy dance about being in the states, and another doing a Tamaki impression in the back corner, involving imaginary fungi.

"C'mon, might as well go now. I'm already sick of this place and it's... emptiness", Hikaru said to me, where I was sitting on the floor next to my suitcase unpacking some stuff.

"Wow, you really have a way with words", I joked with a smile. "But you're right. And wait a minute, you're looking very, well dressed today, what's up?", I asked.

Hikaru went a pink and said a bit **too **quickly, "Nothing!", before turning away and bolting for the door. "Are we going then or what?", he called impatiently to me from the living room, in a deep tone. Probably trying to retain some f his masculinity.

I sighed and stood up from my place on the floor, "Yeah", I replied, and joined him in the living room, and together we left the apartment that was now our home for the next year.

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Instead of going down the set of stairs that lead to the lobby down the corridor we appeared before, me and my black-haired twin took a sharp right before reaching them, meeting another set of stairs going up. We thought going to see if the rest of The Host Club wanted to join us might be a more exciting way to spend our day. After all, where was the fun in only annoying one person?**You'd think they'd have least fixed the d*mn elevator my now, not that I'm complaining or anything, **I thought absent-mindedly whilst we ascended the wide, oak staircase. Hikaru was fiddling over a strand of black hair out of place on his head, whilst trying to be inconspicuous about it. He wasn't. I didn't enlighten him on that detail though, preferably liking my head attached to my body in an orderly fashion.

Half-way up the stairs was a flat part of flooring where the stairs changed in direction. We had just gotten to that point when I abruptly collided with a figure running down the stairs. I stumbled back a bit, but luckily found my balance preventing myself to take a rather tedious trip down the stairs. I could here a feminine voice cry out in surprise, supposedly the person who I'd just collied with. My vision blurred slightly from the sudden fast sequence of actions, my mind still trying to fathom what exactly had just happened.

"Kaoru!", Hikaru grabbed my arm and looked me over, concerned.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!", I heard the feminine voice say. I looked up and saw a blond girl roughly our age with her manicured hands covering her mouth.

"It's okay, I'm fine. Really.", I said to the two of them. I looked to the girl again. "You okay?", I asked.

Hikaru looked towards her, only then seeming to realise there was someone else there. I could hear his breath hitch in his throat slightly. What was that about?

"I'm okay. I ran into you, remember?", she smiled slightly, then looked Hikaru in the eye with own cobalt blue ones. "Ah, so we meet again"

"So we do", the black-haired teen replied just as coolly with a smirk, but there was a slight tinge of pink to his cheeks non the less.

"Eh?" I asked bluntly, willing for one of them to elaborate.

Hikaru turned towards me sharply, and looked for a second like a deer in the headlights. All the composure he had seemed so hard to make had apparently obliterated into nothingness. "Oh, err...Kaoru, this is, um, Pandora...", he stammered out, gesturing slightly with his hand towards the girl. "Pandora, this, err, my twin Kaoru", Pandora smiled to me by greeting.

**So that must've been why he was acting so weird last night**, I mused to myself, **I wonder when he met her?**

"You never told me you had a twin, Hikaru", Pandora smirked, with a hint of playfulness.

"We've barely even spoken to each other!", Hikaru exclaimed, taking the joke seriously.

"Kidding!", she said, giggling. I bit my to try to prevent combusting into a fit of laughter.

"Wow, you guys look so alike! My friend's got a twin, but they look completely different.", the blonde stated in slight admiration.

Hikaru and I shrugged at the same time. "We get that a lot", I stated simply. "Hikaru dyed his hair a couple of months back, before then nobody could distinguish us apart from our hair partings",

"Except one", Hikaru said quietly.

"Oh, Cool!", Pandora replied, seeming to not notice Hikaru's sudden discomfort. She looked down at a silver watch on her wrist, "Sh*t. I'm already late and it's a ten minute walk", she said to nobody in particular. She took a step to carry on down the stairs but then paused, as if suddenly remembering something. The blond rummaged through her red shoulder bag, and after her moment withdrew a glossy, black iphone. Hikaru's iphone, I realised.

"Here. You must've dropped it last night", she said sweetly, holding out the phone for my twin. He took it gladly.

"Thanks, I was looking everywhere for that", he replied, smiling, pocketing said phone. It seemed he'd got his voicing under control now, but his cheeks were flaming so hard I honestly wouldn't have been surprised if they caught fire. I hoped they didn't; somehow I always found my self getting hurt whenever I went near fire. **Of course**, I thought with a smile, **that didn't exactly stop me and Hikaru from testing to see if the fire hazard symbols on stuff were true.**

"Okay, now I **really** need to go. Nice meeting you, Kaoru. Bye Hikaru!", Pandora called as she ran between us and bolted down the stairs, one hand outstretched behind her in a sort of wave.

For Hikaru's sake, I hoped she'd look back. She was about to turn the corner to run down the hallway, and for a second there I thought she wasn't. She turned her head at the last moment though, not breaking her run, and looked straight in the eye of my twin, giving a rather quizzical smile. Half a second later she disappeared out of sight down the corridor below us.

A silence fell upon us once she had gone, neither of us making a move to carry on up the stairs. Hikaru was still looking at the place we had just seen her, with a goofy grin on his face.

"Well, that was interesting", I finally said, braking him out of his daze.

"Yeah...interesting...", he replied not really listening. Most likely fantasizing about a certain blonde.

I scoffed, then tugged on his sleeve, practically dragging him up the rest of the stairs. If he was going to be like this for the rest of the day, I'd have to make a detour to the fish mongers.

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**Okay...What did everyone think? I'd really appreciate some reviews because it might make me write a little faster :) I hope everyone likes this story so far, and I want to know if people want me to carry on :) **


	4. Kaoru: And What Is Your Type?

**Chapter Four – Kaoru's POV – Kaoru: "And What's Your Type?"**

**Yay! New Chapter! Okay, so maybe Kaoru's story is going on a little longer than ****expected, and it'll be his POV for the next chapter as well, but I won't add another for him, promise :) I still haven't got to the juicy bits yet sorry, it's more about Hikaru's babbling still :) I was going to add the next chapter on to this one, but I thought it would be better to put something up now since I'm going camping (oh, the joy) for a week or so, so won't have access to my beloved laptop! I know, I'm so sad! I can't write very well on paper, but I'll try my best to do as much as I can when I gone! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, except for Pandora, and don't make any profit in this story! :) **

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><p>The next couple of hours were spent, extremely-seriously-and-not-at all-childishly searching for beds, where we certainly did <strong>not <strong>jump on the beds next to the sign that said "please do not jump on the beds", and finding some more general furniture for the apartment. Hikaru and I had been able to coax the others into joining us, including the sense of dragging a not-too-willingly Haruhi. Much to our disappointment (Being there would be one less person we could entertain ourself with), Kyouya had left a memo on his door saying he was meeting up with a family friend who lived near to Boston, and would be back the following morning.

Hikaru had gone about in sort of daze ever since our running into Pandora earlier, and I swear I caught him drooling at one point. He mostly just followed me around, and muttered a quick response that most of the time just didn't make any sense, caught up in his own little world. The other's didn't seem to notice anything, apart from Haruhi who had shot me a quizzical look from the other side of the Kitchen store we visited after ordering our beds (or being kicked out and banned). I returned a look that said "I'll tell you later". I wasn't too sure if she got the message right, but she left it like that and went back to comparing juice glasses with Tamaki.

When Hikaru had finally left my side and was looking at sparkly cake stands with Honey and Mori-sempai, I seized the opportunity to talk to Haruhi who stood in the china section with Tamaki latched on to her hand. His free hand held an assortment of bowls, plates and glasses to his chest, and when I came over he looked up with an enthusiastic smile on his face. He waved with the hand entwined with Haruhi's causing her to jerk, but also catching her attention to me. Haruhi glared slightly to Tamaki, but otherwise let it go.

"Hi Kaoru! Isn't this great! This commoner china, it's so strange! Some have weird circles on them and some have stripes and some are boring and plain and them some are even square!", he said impossibly fast, his eyes full of excitement. Haruhi wasn't as enthusiastic, and rolled her brown eyes.

"Hey Tamaki, could you give us a moment? Hmm, how about you help Honey-sempai pick out a good cake stand? I'm sure he'd love your expert opinion,", Haruhi said to the blonde sweetly.

"Oh, Okay!", he replied, giving her cheek a quick kiss before interrupting Honey, Mori, and Hikaru's Tamaki-Free area. Haruhi blushed slightly, still quite shy about doing "couply-stuff" with Tamaki, let alone in public.

My hands ghosted over the china in front of us. I saw one that caught my eye, and picked it up to have a closer look. It was a square shaped plate, in a striking forest green. "Tamaki being Tamaki?", I said to her with a smile.

"More than ever,", she replied in a slightly irritated voice, but her expression caught her out. It didn't hold an ounce of regret, or even a smidgen of annoyance. She seemed almost happy - I guessed if Tamaki was having fun, then she would be too. "So, what's going on with Hikaru, he's acting strange...er", the brunette asked, bending down to look at the lower shelves.

I put the plate down, then picked up the one next to it, the same style but in a bold crimson. "He met this girl, Pandora", I said casually, so it wouldn't attract attention to the others.

"When did this happen?", she asked curiously.

"I'm not too sure, he started acting funny just after we left the restaurant, and then a bit more so when he came into the apartment afterwards", I replied, picking up the matching bowl to the crimson plate and examining it. "Quite feisty actually. She almost knocked me down the stairs this morning", I added, grinning.

"What!"

"Okay, Okay, so maybe she might of accidentally bumped into me when she was running down. I guess you could say she's... nice.", and after a second added, "She liked the twin thing", then winked at Haruhi mischievously.

"Oh, god, You've barely been here for a day and already you're scaring innocent girls!", she scolded disapprovingly, but the mischievous glow in her eyes told otherwise.

"She's got Hikaru hooked already. He could barely even say two words without stuttering or making a fool of himself.", I stated, my grin wider than ever. "It had been most amusing."

"Is she pretty?", Haruhi asked, standing. She pointed towards the green plate I had previously held. "Hmm, I think you should get the green set. They look nicer."

"Ooh, getting jealous are we? What would Tamaki say?", I teased.

"No!", She exclaimed, giving me one of her five-star death glares. "I was just saying, that might be a reason Hikaru's so head over heels for someone he's only just met", going a bit pink from the accusation.

I thought about it for a moment. I guess you could say she was attractive, but I guess she just wasn't my type. I didn't have any kind of pull towards her, or even had any inclination get to know that much more about her. "Yeah, you could say that. Blonde, blue eyes. I dunno, not really my type." I said, and placed the full green set of china into the shopping cart (joining the growing pile of other kitchen appliances and things to have a place in our kitchen) I had been forced by the others to lug around. After thinking about it, I decided to add the crimson set as well, knowing Hikaru would like those better.

"And what is your type?", She replied, sounding to honestly want to know my answer.

I paused. The subject in question hadn't ever crossed my mind too much. I guess there was a time when I thought I loved Haruhi, and I think even now I still did in a small segment of my mind. But it had subsided now, more to just lay by my close friendship with her. She had been the first girl I had formed a liking towards, in something other than a friendly bond. Even then the numbers were slim, since Hikaru and I never let many people become too close to more than acquaintances in the first place. What was my type? It had been fun in The Host Club to talk to the female students, and do some harmless flirting, but there hadn't ever been a time I could think of when I felt any kind of attachment towards a certain one of them.

Even after thinking hard about Haruhi's question, I still wasn't any closer to finding the answer. "I...don't know", I looked down at my feet, "At first I thought it was you, but now... I guess I don't have, feelings of those sorts towards you". Trying to change the subject to something lighter, I quickly said "Do you think I should get the matching mugs as well?"

"No,", she said, playing along, "Maybe get one of each colour. It'll brighten the place up", she smiled one of those smiles that you couldn't help but smile back to. Which, of course, I did.

At that moment our conversation was interrupted by a flustered Hikaru running up to us, suddenly more alive. "Kaoru! I just thought of something!", he said gripping both my shoulders, making it sound really important. Knowing Hikaru, in reality it probably wasn't.

"What?", I questioned, "Oh, and what do you think of these plates?", I held the crimson and green tester plates up to him.

"Yeah, Yeah, they're nice.", he said quickly, not even looking at them. "Anyway, I've just realised something! You know Pandora gave me back my phone from when I fell last night?"

"Err, yeah?"

"Well, I fell when we was leaving and she didn't bend down or anything!", he exclaimed excitedly.

"Well that's a bit harsh", I said concerned.

"No, no, no, that's not the point! The point **is **she must've taken it to have a reason to see me again!"

"Or she could be a random stalker who likes to take people's phones. You know, it could happen.", I mused, shrugging.

"Hmm, Hikaru?", Haruhi interrupted us.

"What?", Hikaru turned to look at her.

"Give me you're phone for a second,", she said simply, holding out her hand.

The black-haired teen looked at the outstretched hand for a moment, before hesitantly pulling out said phone and giving it to her. She touched some things on the screen for a moment before a smile crept up on her face. "Just as I thought,", she said, holding out the phone for the two of us to see.

The screen showed Hikaru's phone book; in the middle of the screen there was a contact marked "Pandora x". My twin grabbed the phone, putting his face inconceivably close to the screen making sure he wasn't seeing things. His cat-like eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and delight, "Ha!", he exclaimed, then starting doing a sort of victory dance, (which in short meant jumping up and down frantically like an idiot) grabbing my hands and forcing me to participate in said dance as well.

"Well...what do I do now? I don't know if I should call her...Do you think I should call her? What will I say? I don't know what to say...!", he rambled on, worse than a chipmunk on steroids.

Whilst he was rambling, I grabbed his phone from his hand, unnoticed by my flustered twin, and pressed the call button next to Pandora's number. I held it up to his ear, where he finally realised what I was doing. I could feel the glossy black item start to vibrate in the grip of my hand in a slow rhythm, signalling it was ringing.

Hikaru practically jump a couple of feet into the air once he heard the dreaded ringing tone. "Kaoru! What the -", he shouted, his eyes flaming, but stopping in mid-sentence when a voice could be heard greeting the phone. "Pandora...err...hi...", he stuttered out, sending me death glares through out.

I sniggered, seeing his face going red by the second. Even Haruhi it seemed had bit down hard on her lip to prevent the convulsions of giggles. We wouldn't want to put Pandora off now would we? Only Hikaru could hear what she was saying properly since he had the phone to his ear, Haruhi and I could only here a confusing blur of mumbles.

It seemed she said something back to Hikaru, which made his face go crimson. For the entertainment of myself and Haruhi, I held the Crimson plate we had been looking over before beside my flustered twin. Perfect match. We couldn't help but double over laughing at the sight, holding our hands to our mouths.

Hikaru, it seemed, was not amused, and looked as if he wanted to launch the plate against the wall. Fortunately, so we wouldn't get kicked out (again), he held back and just snatched the plate away from me with his free hand, the other holding up the phone to his ear after batting mine away before.

"Well, um, how about we do that then? It sounds like fun, but you might have to show me the ropes a bit", Hikaru said, seeming to gain a bit of confidence, even letting a smile trace across his lips. "Hmm, what about my place, it needs braking in a little bit after all,"

I raised an eyebrow, but didn't object. **You know**, I though, mentally shaking my head, **Just invite someone over to our home without even discussing it with me. I don't mind, really.**

"Yeah, that's sound's good.", another smile, "It's apartment seven on the first floor, come round at about, say, half three? I've still got some more stuff to move around.", full out grin, "Really? Great! I'll see you then!", he hung up with a satisfied smile. "She loves me,", he said simply to the two of us, who in turn rolled our eyes. Typical Hikaru.

"Na, I just bet her favourite colour is crimson is all. Now I **have **to get this set.", I teased to my now fuming black-haired twin and gave him a cheeky wink. He took a step towards me, glaring.

"Oh Yeah? We'll see who's a little flushed after I -"

"So, Hikaru,", Haruhi interrupted just in time, delaying my soon to be death, putting a hand on his arm and smiling up at him. Compared to Hikaru and I, the brunette had a rather small stature, just about passing over Honey-sempai. "What're you going to do later with Pandora?", she asked rather innocently.

I scoffed, wondering if Haruhi realised the full extent of the multiple meanings of her question. I wondered if she realised how alike she and Tamaki truly were. "Yeah, Hikaru. What **are** you 'gonna do with Pandora?", I added, raising my eyebrow suggestively, passing right over Haruhi's head (in every sense).

Hikaru gave a slight snigger, "Oh, we're thinking of going back to the apartment,", he said, and I widened my eyes in shock, before he added, "We're going to bake a cake!"

"Haha! You? Baking? A cake? Oh, brother, don't make me laugh!", I laughed, leaning on him for support. It really was funny; the only matters we had dealt with in the kitchen was those at Ouran Academy, where we had sneaked in and spiked our Classic Study teacher's coffee with mustard.

"Yes, I am! What's so funny? I can bake!", Hikaru protested, and then after a moment of thought added, "Okay, well, granted, Pandora's going to bake, and I'll probably just stand by the sidelines like an idiot, but I'm sure I'm not going to blow up the kitchen, honest!"

"Okay, okay, **sure** you won't. Anyway, have you forgotten about our apartment presently being totally bare? Have fun using a cardboard box as a baking tray.", I said logically.

"Yeah, well, we're almost finished here, and it's only just gone twelve. If I head back now, our order for the furniture cr*p should be just about come, and I can hire some of the workers to dump it all in some sort of order. We can sort it all out later! And we can just ask for a direct delivery on this cooking stuff now, and it will be free to use! Simple!", he said, looking as if he'd just solved one of the worlds greatest unsolved questions.

"Whatever,", I sighed with a flick of my hand. "Go on, I'll finish up here."

His smile stretched even wider than before and he quickly wrapped me up in a quick hug, "Thank you, Kaoru! You're the best!", he sang, before withdrawing and running from the shop. He turned around to face us, still running but backwards, and gave a wave before disappearing outside the store. I was surprised that he hadn't fallen flat on his face like so many other times before.

"Hikaru and his mood swings, you'd think he was a pregnant woman!", Haruhi joked to me, smiling.

I laughed and agreed, and we joined the other's over by the cake stands, whom all had peculiar looks on their faces, most likely caused by Hikaru's abrupt departure. I explained briefly to them, however didn't forget to add the certain colours on Hikaru's cheeks whenever a certain blonde was added to the conversation.

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><p><strong>Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and please review because it really gives me a boost to write quicker! :) Also, if there's any particualr suggestions on what you'd like to be a part of this story, I'd be more than welcome to listen! :) <strong>


	5. Kaoru: Snap

**Hi!:) After what's felt like years...I have finally updated! I've very much neglected this fic, and for that I am deeply sorry! I'm going to try to focus more on this again, and hope you all enjoy the next installment! It's not as long as the other's, but I really wanted to update _something_. Hopefully the next won't be as short or as long a wait! So...enjoy? :D**

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><p>"Yay! Taka-Chan, you owe me 2000 now!", Honey-sempai exclaimed with a giggle, throwing Usa-Chan into the air and catching him in a tight hug to his chest. Yeah, it probably would have been cute, but I'd known him long enough that small and chibi-eyed though he was, the blonde wasn't to be gotten on the wrong side of.<p>

Mori-sempai counted out a few coloured bills, and handed them over to the smaller teen to his side, not commenting other than a slight nod.

"This commoner's game is great, Haruhi! I love To-To, he's so cute!", Tamaki beamed, picking up his character from its place on the board and admiring it with chibi-star eyes. Yes, Tamaki got the cute dog, and all I had been left with was the crappy Iron. Oh, the joys of having an over enthusiastic monarch in the club.

Haruhi rolled her eyes. "Tamaki, It's not To-To from 'The Wizard Of Oz', it's an inanimate object game piece. You're not supposed to be taking it off the board, anyway.", The brunette growled to her boyfriend, who in turn whimpered slightly and quickly returned the metal dog figure to its place on the board. She was in one of those grumpy moods, an ever present scowl on her ivory face. I think Tamaki was acting a bit tooTamaki for his own good. Or maybe it was because we had destroyed the layout of her apartment to make floor room for the monopoly board we were currently sitting around, who knows?

Honey-sempai, though it was his first time playing, was currently winning with owning over half the board and had a large array of red hotels to his name. Myself, I was currently bankrupt, and had been that way for the past hour (Even though Hikaru and I owned this board game back in Japan, not that I was going to enlighten anyone on that particular fact). Instead, I spent my time just generally annoying the others, and distracting them at crucial entrepreneur moments. Granted, it would have been more fun if Hikaru was present also to accompany me in said annoying antics, but he was back at our apartment with Pandora, probably scaring her off with his weirdness and general retard qualities we all knew and loved him for. Speaking of which, I wondered how the guy was holding up. It was his first date – well, technically speaking second if you counted his date with Haruhi, but that didn't really count anyway – so I couldn't help but feel anxious about it. He was my brother after all, I wouldn't want to to see him get hurt. It was obvious he was already head over heels for the mysterious Pandora, I still didn't know whether I could trust her. His heart was still frail from Haruhi, if he went down now, I wasn't sure he'd be able to ever get back up again, even with myself picking up the pieces. I tried to push these thoughts aside; he was his own person, able to make his own choices now. I had to remember that. To do this, I did what my twin and I were most talented for – annoying others around us to distract ourselves from what was truly hiding underneath, though I could barely even admit it to myself, let alone anyone else. "Aww, why the grumpy face?", I mock-whined to Haruhi, pronouncing the last two words in a negative, deep and childish tone.

"I'm not...!", she started to protest, but was interrupted by a flustered blonde, leaning in close on his hands and knees towards her.

"Haruhi! Are you upset? Is it something I've done? Haruhi, my love, speak to me!Are you ill?", along with a few other questions that I couldn't quite comprehend due to the speed they had flown out his mouth.

"Nooo! Why is Haruhi upset? Doesn't she want to play with us any more!", cried Honey-sempai, hugging Usa-Chan against his small chest in angst.

"Tamaki, please, you're getting a bit too close...", Haruhi mumbled, leaning back from her boyfriend's ever close face, her cheeks pink from the sudden overwhelming proximity.

Oh, god, now she'd done it. Tamaki had officially migrated to his corner of woe. Again. You'd think he'd get bored at inspecting where two walls met, a little ball or imaginary fungi to keep him company or otherwise.

In the end the whole momentum of the game was gone with Tamaki's oh-so-dramatic move to the dark age corner, so we decided to pack up and check out the pool. It was situated on the roof of the apartment complex and said to have an amazing view this time of day, when the sun had started to ponder about taking a rest for the night. "I'll just go fetch my towel and crap," I called out as I jogged out of Haruhi's apartment, making a beeline for the stairs as I headed for my own. I'd gotten to the door and was about to run in when my hand hesitated on the glistening gold handle. I bit my lip, Maybe this was a bad idea...they're having their first date together after all! They could be doing anything in there by now... on second thoughts, maybe it is a good idea. I wouldn't want him doing anything too hasty..., a high pitch scream burst through my train of thought, followed by a convulsion of giggles and loud thuds that sounded like footsteps running around madly. I raised an eyebrow to myself, then shrugged and pressed my ear against the white-washed wooden door, the golden 7 just nipping my already bent stature. I would have run back to Haruhi's to fetch a glass or something, but then I might have missed something far too funny to worth losing for a few measly decibels.

The giggling and thudding continued, and my curiosity eventually got the better of me. After swiping my key card quickly over the security box, I gripped the handle tightly and slowly started to open the door.

What I found was something I did not expect to see.

Hikaru was currently chasing Pandora around the apartment, holding a bag of flour and Pandora screaming as she held an empty box of eggs after throwing her last one at my twin's leg. They were heading towards the kitchen, that in question looking as if a cake bomb had hit it. Utensils and ingredients of all shapes and sizes littered the countertops and floor and a distinct smell of burning filled the air, the source most likely being the smoking oven.

As strange as it was, he had encountered worse. Slipping by them was easy - they didn't even blink his way and he was slipped into his room just before Pandora let out a particularly loud cry from being attacked with the remaining flour.

Well...Hikaru seemed to be having fun. Though, if he thought I was helping him clean up that massacre which seemed to have spread over the whole apartment, he could think again. Grabbing a towel and some beach shorts from my suitcase, I headed back over to the door and was about to slip out oh-so-stealthily once more when I noticed the playful squeals and cries had stopped.

Had they noticed I was here and were standing just outside ready to pounce? I seemed plausible enough. Well, there was only one way to find out.

...He didn't know why he was so hesitant to open the door until he saw what they were doing.

Pandora let out a soft giggle as she smiled into the kiss, wrapping her legs around Hikaru's waist as she sat on the kitchen countertop. Hikaru's hands traveled up her sides, to where he cupped her face with one, and ran his fingers through her soft, blonde hair with the other. They didn't notice the sudden stifled choke escape my lips as I bolted for the main door.

My hands were shaking as I grabbed for the latch, taking me a couple of attempts to actually get the damn thing open. Why was this happening?

I swung the door open to find Haruhi with a fist raised, presumably about to knock. Upon seeing my expression which quite possibly resembled someone who had just been hit by a train. "Kaoru...?"

I didn't stay long enough to hear the rest. I dropped my things and ran.

My whole body started to burn up, so I tore off my grey jacket and threw it behind me as I bee-lined for the nearest exit. What was happening to me? I had expected this to happen, hadn't I? Even encouraged him to pursue her, right? So...why did it feel as if my heart had just been ripped apart right in front of me?

I knew one thing though. I had to get away. Somewhere, anywhere, as fast as I possibly could.

* * *

><p><strong>...I guess you could call that a cliffhanger...ish :) Well anyway, is anyone super confused as to what the hell's going on? All will be revealed anyhow in the next chapter, which will be, wait for it, in Kaoru's pov again! I was meant to have it all in one go, but it seemed better to leave it like this...I think... <strong>

**Please review, I'm welcome to any ideas you want to throw my way! This story won't be entirely focused on Hikaru and Kaoru, we'll soon have a lot of Honey, and of course I won't forget our cute TamaHaru! :) **


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